Late in Tuesday’s AC360, former Republican National Committee (RNC) official and CNN political commentator Mike Shields unloaded on his fellow panelists and the news media at large for failing to connect with Americans outside the Washington D.C. area.
The segment pertained to a new book about President Donald Trump and White House chief strategist/former Breitbart head Steve Bannon with attacks ranging from Breitbart representing “basically Neo-Nazism” to Trump being a puppet controlled by Bannon.
Clearly, Shields had enough, interjecting to inform his cohorts that “I’ll tell you what Steve Bannon and Donald Trump are able to do so that you guys understand it.”
“There's a whole group of Americans that they spoke to that, people like us, and I live in Washington, D.C., so people like — I'm saying people like us, though we don't communicate to them. When they watch panels like this, they don't relate to us, they don't understand what we're talking about,” Shields astutely explained.
Shields added that the media constantly have been “turning the dial to 11 on a whole bunch of different issues with the President that they don't think matters when they're looking for a job, when they're picking up their kids, and they are worried about health care.”
While the media were doing everything they could to elect Hillary Clinton, Shields conceded:
Bannon and Trump were able to come together, talk way past to us to those Americans and say I care about you and it was brilliant and so, now we're talking to the author of this book and we’re starting to — is he a puppet master? And starting to get back into the Washington, D.C. part of it.
Fellow political commentator Kirsten Powers and host Anderson Cooper attempted to engage in damage control before going to a commercial break, but they had already proven the points Shields raised.
Here’s a portion of what Powers stated earlier about Trump, dismissing him as Bannon’s bumbling fool:
And then he, you know, stumbles upon Donald Trump and it seems like they maybe agreed on trade, which is — seems to be the thing he's been consistent about Donald Trump and then, I know a lot of people pushed back on the idea of him being the puppet master, but I think he's very much a puppet master with Donald Trump. I think he's the ideological sort of godfather behind a lot of the things that Donald Trump believes.
Far-left political commentator and New York Times columnist Charles Blow went further, decrying Bannon as having overseen Breitbart, which represent “basically Neo-Nazism and the like.”
Referring to Trump, Blow added:
This is a problem that he's having with every part of his agenda which is he doesn't understand it. He didn't have a health care plan. He kept talking about it for two years on the campaign trail. He didn't have one and he didn't even understand what was in the one that was being voted on. That's why he couldn't make the case. That's why he refused even to try. He actually does not understand policy and therefore, Bannon is the only person who understands some sort of policy and that's why he is a puppetmaster.
Here’s the relevant transcript from CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 on July 18:
CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
July 18, 2017
9:50 p.m. Eastern
ANDERSON COOPER: New book reveals never before told details about the political partnership the President and his Chief White House Strategist and former campaign manager Steve Bannon, it's called Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of The Presidency. It's written by Joshua Green of Bloomberg Businessweek. It's really fascinating, it's got a lot of stories from the campaign trail that had never been shared until now including how the talk of a border wall actually began.
(....).
KIRSTEN POWERS: And then he, you know, stumbles upon Donald Trump and it seems like they maybe agreed on trade, which is — seems to be the thing he's been consistent about Donald Trump and then, I know a lot of people pushed back on the idea of him being the puppet master, but I think he's very much a puppet master with Donald Trump. I think he's the ideological sort of godfather behind a lot of the things that Donald Trump believes.
(....)
MIKE SHIELDS: There's no puppet mastering with Donald Trump. This goes back to what I was talking about with the campaign, OK. He makes the decisions and some people criticize him for having too much of essential he's doing everything but he does everything. The President is in charge but he found someone in Steve Bannon that he agreed with and someone who that they're heading down the same path, so they were able to work together. Steve Bannon is one of the few people that actually doesn't really need a whole lot from the President. There’s a lot of people around the President, around billionaires in general that need something from them. He had a whole —
POWERS: Yes, because his life was exactly the same when he was running Breitbart and now that he's basically running White House.
MIKE SHIELDS: — but he has Breitbart. He's been successful.
(....)
CHARLES BLOW: So, are we also not going to talk about the fact that, that — what that Breitbart crowd is and that it is basically Neo-Nazism and the like. I mean, we're not going to bring that part up? Anyway, am I the also — only person who looked at that interview and thought like this is hilarious, that the only way they can get this man to focus, it's kind of shady, right? He saying, the only way they can get him to focus is give him a four-letter word. Like he give — say wall and you could get him to focus on immigration. This is a problem that he's having with every part of his agenda which is he doesn't understand it. He didn't have a health care plan. He kept talking about it for two years on the campaign trail. He didn't have one and he didn't even understand what was in the one that was being voted on. That's why he couldn't make the case. That's why he refused even to try. He actually does not understand policy and therefore, Bannon is the only person who understands some sort of policy and that's why he is a puppetmaster.
(....)
SHIELDS: The idea that the President doesn't have ideas, I mean, this is what —
POWERS: I didn't say he didn't have ideas. I said he doesn't understand deep policy. He doesn’t. I mean, he really does not — he —
SHIELDS: — but he doesn’t know anything about policy? I’ll tell you what Steve Bannon and Donald Trump are able to do so that you guys understand it. There's a whole group of Americans that they spoke to that, people like us, and I live in Washington, D.C., so people like — I'm saying people like us, though we don't communicate to them. When they watch panels like this, they don't relate to us, they don't understand what we're talking about. We're making — turning the dial to 11 on a whole bunch of different issues with the President that they don't think matters when they're looking for a job, when they're picking up their kids, and they are worried about health care. Bannon and Trump were able to come together, talk way past to us to those Americans and say I care about you and it was brilliant and so, now we're talking to the author of this book and we’re starting to — is he a puppet master? And starting to get back into the Washington, D.C. part of it.
COOPER: But I think the author actually — I mean we didn't play the full interview makes that point very well about how Steve Bannon sort of figured out and heard the voices and figured out that Donald Trump was somebody who also, ironically was able to, despite his, you know, enormous wealth, able to kind of connect with those voices.
POWERS: Nothing you just said — nothing you just said is, in any way, contradicts what I said.
